Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has informed Chinese chip design companies that it is suspending production of its most advanced AI chips from Monday, the Financial Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, told Chinese customers it will no longer manufacture AI chips at advanced process nodes at 7 nanometers or smaller, the FT said on Friday.
The US has taken a series of measures aimed at restricting shipments of advanced GPU chips – which enable AI – to China to hamper its artificial intelligence capabilities, which Washington fears could be used to develop bioweapons and Can be used to launch large-scale cyber attacks.
Earlier this month, the US fined New York-based GlobalFoundries $500,000 for shipping chips without authorization to an affiliate of blacklisted Chinese chipmaker SMIC.
According to the FT report, any future supplies of advanced AI chips by TSMC to Chinese customers will be subject to an approval process likely to involve Washington.
The company said, “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are committed to complying with all applicable rules and regulations, including applicable export controls.”
The US Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The move to restrict exports to China comes as the US Commerce Department is investigating how a chip produced by a Taiwanese chipmaker ended up in a product made by China’s heavily sanctioned Huawei.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
